Read: Advertising | Marketing Principles (2024)

Advertising: Pay to play

Advertising is any paid form of communication from an identified sponsor or source that draws attention to ideas, goods, services or the sponsor itself. Most advertising is aimed at groups rather than individuals, and advertising is typically delivered through media such as television, radio, newspapers and increasingly the Internet. Advertisem*nts are often measuredimpression(number of times a consumer is exposed to an advertisem*nt).

Advertising is a very old form of advertising with roots that go back even to ancient times. Advertising practices have changed dramatically in recent decades as new technology and media have allowed consumers to bypass traditional advertising channels. From the invention of the remote control, which allows people to ignore commercials on TV without leaving the couch, to recording devices that allow people to watch TV shows but skip the ads, conventional advertising is on the rise. Across the board, television viewership has fragmented and ratings have fallen.

Print media is also in decline, with fewer people subscribing to newspapers and other print media and increasingly preferring digital news and entertainment sources. Newspaper advertising revenues have fallen steadily since 2000.[1]Television advertising revenues are also weak, spread across a growing number of broadcast and cable networks. It's clear that companies need to go beyond traditional advertising channels to reach consumers. Digital media has happily stepped in to fill this gap. Despite this changing landscape, advertising still plays an important role for many companies in delivering the right message to customers and prospects.

The purpose of advertising

Advertising has three main purposes: to inform, to persuade and to remind.

• Informative advertisingcreates awareness of brands, products, services and ideas. It announces new products and programs and can inform people about the features and benefits of new or existing products.
• Persuasive advertisingtrying to convince customers that a company's services or products are the best, and it works to change perception and improve the image of a company or product. The goal is to influence consumers to shop and switch brands, try a new product or stay loyal to a current brand.
• Advertising reminderreminds people of the need for a product or service or the features and benefits it offers if they buy it immediately.

When people often think about advertisingproduct-oriented advertisem*ntsis top of mind – i.e. advertisem*nts promoting an organization's goods or services.Institutional advertisinggoes beyond products to promote organizations, issues, places, events and political figures.Public Service Announcements (PSAs)is a category of institutional advertising that focuses on social issues such as drunk driving, drug use and practicing a healthy lifestyle. Typically, PSAs are sponsored by nonprofits and government agencies with a vested interest in the causes they promote.

Advantages and disadvantages of advertising

As a marketing communication tool, advertising has both advantages and disadvantages. In terms of benefits, advertising creates a sense of credibility or legitimacy when an organization invests in presenting itself and its products in a public forum. Advertising can convey a sense of quality and sustainability, the idea that a company is not a fly-by-night operation. Advertising allows marketers to repeat a message at strategically chosen times. Repetition makes it more likely that the target audience will see and remember a message, improving awareness outcomes. Advertising can create drama and human interest by presenting people and situations that are exciting or engaging. It can introduce feelings, images, and symbols that stimulate desire, and it can show how a product or brand compares favorably to the competition. Finally, advertising is an excellent tool for brand building because it can create rational and emotional connections with a company or offering, which translates into goodwill. As advertising becomes more sophisticated with digital media, it is an effective tool for tracking consumer behavior, interests and preferences, allowing advertisers to better tailor content and offers to individual consumers. Thanks to the power of digital media, memorable or entertaining commercials can be shared between friends and go viral – and viewership skyrockets.

The main disadvantage of advertising is the cost. Marketers wonder whether this communication method is really cost-effective for reaching large groups. Naturally, costs vary depending on the medium, with TV commercials being very expensive to produce and place. In contrast, print and digital ads are typically much cheaper. In addition to the costs, there is also the question of how many people an advertisem*nt actually reaches. Ads are easy to set up in today's busy media market. Even ads that initially attract attention can become outdated over time. While digital advertising is clickable and interactive, traditional advertising media is not. In the physical world, it is difficult for marketers to measure the success of advertising and tie it directly to changes in consumer perception or behavior. Because advertising is a one-way medium, there is typically little direct opportunity for consumer feedback and interaction, especially from consumers who often feel overwhelmed by competing market messages.

Developing effective advertisem*nts: the creative strategy

Effective advertising starts with the same basic components as any other IMC campaign: identifying the target audience and the objectives of the campaign. When advertising is part of a broader IMC effort, it is important to consider what strategic role advertising will play in relation to other marketing communications tools. With clarity about the target group, the campaign strategy and the budget, the next step is developmentcreative strategyto develop persuasive advertisem*nts. The creative strategy consists of two main components: themessageInappel.

Ofmessagestems from the messaging framework discussed earlier in this module: which message elements should the advertisem*nts convey to consumers? What should the main message be? What is the call to action? How should the brand promise be expressed in the advertisem*nt? How will it position and differentiate the offering? When advertising, it is important to remember that the advertisem*nt can convey the message not only with words, but possibly also with images, sound, tone and style.

Marketers should also consider existing public perceptions and other advertisem*nts and messages the company has marketed. Has the previous marketing activity resonated well with the target groups? Should the next round of advertising reinforce the previous one, or is it time for a fresh new message, look or tone?

In addition to the message, the creative strategy also identifiesappel, or how the advertisem*nt will attract attention and influence a person's perception or behavior. Ad calls can take many forms, but they usually fall into one of two categories:informativecomplaintsemotionalappel.

Ofinformational callprovides facts and information to help the target group make a purchasing decision. It attempts to create awareness using rational arguments and evidence to convince consumers to choose a product, service or brand. For example:

• More or better product or service features: Ajax "Stronger Than Dirt"
• Cost Savings: Wal-Mart "Always Low Prices"
• Quality: John Deere "Nothing runs like a Deere"
• Customer Service: Holiday Inn “Satisfying people around the world”
• New, Improved: Verizon "Can you hear me now? Good."

The following Black+Decker ad is based on an informational appeal to promote the product:

Ofemotional appealfocuses on the emotional wants and needs of consumers rather than rational logic and facts. It responds to conscious or unconscious desires, beliefs, fears and insecurities to convince consumers and influence their behavior. The emotional appeal is related to the features and benefits the product offers, but connects with the consumer on an emotional level rather than a rational one. Most marketers agree that emotional appeals are more powerful and differentiating than informational appeals. However, they must be executed well to appear authentic and credible to the target group. A poorly executed emotional appeal can come across as corny or manipulative. Examples of emotional appeals include:

• Self-esteem: L'Oréal "Because I'm worth it"
• Happiness: Coca-Cola "Open Happiness"
• Fear and anxiety: World Health Organization "Smoking kills"
• Prestaties: Nike 'Just Do It'
• Attitude: Apple "think different"
• Freedom: Southwest "You can now move freely through the country"
• Peace of Mind: Allstate "Are you in good hands?"
• Popularity: NBC "Must-see TV"
• Germophobia: Chlorox "For the gloomy moments of life there is Chlorox"

The following Heinz Ketchup commercial provides a humorous example of an ad based solely on emotional appeal:

Development of the media plan

The media plan is a document that outlines the strategy and approach for an advertising campaign or for the advertising part of an IMC campaign. The media plan is developed simultaneously with the creative strategy. A standard media plan consists of four phases: (a) formulating media objectives; b) media evaluation; (c) selection and implementation of media options; and (d) determining the media budget.

Middayis usually started in terms of three dimensions:

• Not:number of different people or households who come into contact with a particular media medium or media plan at least once during a certain period.
• Frequency:the number of times within a certain period that a consumer is exposed to a message.
• Continuity:the timing of media claims (e.g. 10 percent in September, 20 percent in October, 20 percent in November, 40 percent in December and 10 percent the rest of the year).

The process ofassess mediainvolves considering each type of advertising available to a marketer and the inherent strengths and weaknesses associated with each medium. The table below outlines the key strengths and weaknesses of the major types of advertising media. Television advertising is a powerful and highly visible medium, but it is expensive to produce and purchase airtime. Radio is quite flexible and cheap, but the number of listeners is lower and usually produces fewer impressions and a less targeted audience. Most newspapers and magazines have seen their advertising heyday behind them and are now struggling with declining subscriptions and declining readership. Still, they can be an excellent and cost-effective investment to reach certain target groups. Display advertising offers a lot of flexibility and creative possibilities, from wrapping buses in ads to creating huge and elaborate 3D billboards. Yet their reach is limited to their immediate geography. Online advertising such as banner ads, search engine ads, paid ads, pay-per-click links and similar techniques provide marketers with a wide range of opportunities to attract and engage with online audiences. Still, the Internet is a very busy place, and it's difficult for any company to stand out from the crowd.

Table: Strengths and weaknesses of advertising media

The evaluation process requires research to assess the ability to reach their target audience with each medium and how well a particular message fits with the audience in that medium. Many advertisers rely heavily on media research, their own experience and subjective judgment to determine the best media for a particular campaign.

To illustrate, if a company is targeting young to middle-aged professional women to sell beauty products, the person or team responsible for the media plan should assess the potential of each type of media to reach this audience. How reliably can TV, radio, newspapers or magazines reach this audience? Media organizations maintain carefully researched information about the size, demographics, and other characteristics of their viewership. Cable and television networks know which programs are hits for this target group, and therefore which commercials to sell to a company that targets professional women. Likewise, newspapers know which sections attract the attention of the female audience, and magazine publishers understand very well which market niches their publications fit into. Online advertising is becoming an especially powerful tool for targeted advertising because of the information it collects and tracks about website visitors: who sees and clicks on ads, where they visit, and what they search for. Digital advertising not only allows advertising on websites that target a target audience of professional women, but it can also identify which of these women are shopping for beauty products and can help a company target these individuals more intensively and provide opportunities for follow-up research. Interaction.

The following video further explains how digital advertising targets and tracks individuals based on their expressed interests and behavior.

You can read a transcript of the videoher.

Selection and implementation

The media planner must make decisions about media mix and timing, both of which are limited by the available budget. Deciding on media mix is ​​about choosing the best combination of advertising media to achieve the campaign's objectives. This is a difficult task and typically requires a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of each medium to choose a mix that optimizes reach and budget.

Unfortunately, there are few valid rules of thumb to guide this process, in part because it is difficult to compare audiences across different types of advertising media. Nielsen ratings measure e.g. the audience based on television viewership reports of the programs seen, while estimates of audience exposure outdoors (billboards) are based on counts of the number of cars passing specific outdoor billboards. “The timing of media” refers to the actual placement of advertisem*nts during the time periods most appropriate given the chosen media objectives. It not only includes ad scheduling, but also ad size and placement.

There are three common patterns in ad scheduling:

1. Coherentadvertising displays ads continuously at a certain level indefinitely. This schedule works well for products and services that are consumed on a consistent basis throughout the year, and the purpose of advertising is to push consumers, remind them, and keep a brand or product top-of-mind.
2. Flightincludes heavy advertising, followed by periods without advertising. This type of schedule makes sense for products or services that are seasonal, such as tax services, as well as for one-off or occasional events.
3. Pulsatingcombines continuous scheduling with air travel to create a constant drumbeat of advertising with periods of greater intensity. This approach corresponds to products and services that are attractive all year round, but there may be seasonality or periods of greater demand or intensity. For example, hotels and airlines can increase their advertising presence during the holidays.

Budget

When considering advertising as a marketing communications method, companies must weigh the costs of advertising – both producing promotional items and purchasing placements – against the overall budget for the IMC program. The selection and planning of media has a huge impact on the budget: advertising aimed at a large audience is generally more expensive than advertising aimed at a local or niche audience. It is important for marketers to think about the contribution that advertising will make to the whole. Although advertising is generally one of the more expensive parts of the campaign mix, it can be worth the investment if it contributes significantly to the reach and effectiveness of the overall program. Alternatively, some marketers spend very little on advertising because they find other methods more productive and cost-effective in reaching their target audiences.

Anatomy of an advertisem*nt

Advertisem*nts use several common elements to convey the message. Thatvisualis the image, image or situation depicted in the advertisem*nt. The visuals also take into account the emotions, style or look and feel that must be conveyed: should the advertisem*nt appear tender, businesslike, fresh or super cool? All of these considerations can be conveyed visually, without using words.

Ofcolumnis generally what the viewer reads first - i.e. the words in the largest font. The headline serves as a starting point for the attraction: it must attract attention, arouse interest and ensure that the viewer continues reading or paying attention. In a radio or television advertisem*nt, the corresponding headline may be the voiceover of a narrator delivering the primary message, or it may be a visual headline similar to a print advertisem*nt.

In print advertisem*nts, asubtitleis a small headline that continues the idea introduced in the headline or provides more information. It usually appears below the heading and in a smaller font. Thatbody copyprovides supporting information. Generally, it appears in a standard, readable font. Thatcall to actionmay be part of the main text, or may appear elsewhere in a larger font or color treatment to draw attention to itself.

A selection ofhighlight elementscan also appear in an advertisem*nt. These include the name of the advertiser or brand advertised, its logo, a slogan, hashtag, website link, or other standard "brand" elements that convey brand identity. These elements are an important way to establish continuity with other marketing communications used in the IMC campaign or developed by the company. For example, print ads for an IMC campaign might include a campaign-specific tagline that also appears in TV ads, website content, and social media posts associated with the campaign.

Testing and measuring advertisem*nts

When organizations are willing to make a large investment in any form of advertising, it is wise to conduct marketing research to test the ads with target audiences before spending a lot of money on ads and messages that may not produce the right results. Ad testers can review messages and preliminary ad concepts with members of a target segment to see which ones resonate best and gain insight into how to refine messages or other aspects of the ad to make them more effective. Organizations can conduct additional testing with near-final promotional items to refine messages and images before publishing.

To measure the effect of advertising, organizations can conduct pre- and post-tests among their target group to gauge whether advertising has the intended effect. A pre-test assesses consumers' attitudes, perceptions and behavior before the advertising campaign. A posttest measures the same things afterwards to determine how the ads influenced the target audience, if at all.

Companies can also measure sales before, during and after advertising campaigns that take place in the geographic areas or target groups where the advertising was delivered. This provides information aboutreturn on investmentfor the campaign, that is, how much the ad increased sales compared to how much money it cost to run. Ideally, advertising generates more revenue and ultimately more profit than it costs to start the advertising campaign.